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A Dragon Boat Contest |
According to the folksaying, "one tree cannot make a boat"; that's because a boat is usually made with many wooden boards. However, many boats sailing in the rivers of Xishuangbanna are made with only one huge tree; more, some boats are even as long as more than 10 meters with a width of over 1 meter; such a boat can hold dozens of people or hundreds kg of goods, they are actually canoes (boat made with one tree). It is hard to tell when canoes came into being or who invented them; but, this must have its environmental and historical conditions. First of all, the big trees in the rain forests can grow as tall as more than 30 meters and they are so thick that several people cannot hold them arm in arm; this provides the condition for the making of canoes; secondly, 90% of the land in Xishuangbanna are mountain lands, the Lanchang River transverses the whole territory- and the river has many torrent streams and shallow shoals, therefore, is very difficult for big boats to sail in the river; thirdly, the economy of this part is backward, and the society is in a state of self-sufficient; as a result, there are no large amounts of people or goods need to be delivered to other places. Under such circumstances, the shuttle-like and solid canoes, which can suit the environment well emerge as the times require.
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A Dragon Boat Contest |
Among all the entertaining activities held during the traditional Water-splashing Festival of the Dai folks (Mid-April in solar calendar), an important event is the dragon boat contest. On that day, large crowds of people will swarm to the banks of the river, particular young girls in festive clothes and with colorful umbrellas in their hands, and they like to watch dragon boat contest especially. At the same time when hundreds of boats are striving with one another on the water, the shouting of "shui, shui (water)" is heard continuously; and they make the scenes more cheerful and boisterous. In places of the Han Chinese, the folks also hold dragon boat contests; they are doing this in memory of a patriotic poet, Qu Yuan. Then, what is the cultural background for the Dai folks to hold dragon boat contests? It is difficult to do any textual research, so we can only have a wild guess. This may have something to do with their dragon-worshipping. The Dai folks have a long-standing history of dragon worshipping. Such worshipping is affected by the myth of the Yi People living in Mount Ailao, and we can also see edification of the dragon culture in the middle plains on them. For example, in the long historical poem of the Dai folks, "Zhao Shu Tun", the prince marries Nan Wu Nuo Na with the assistance of the dragon; even today, we can still see the sculptures of dragons beside the doors of the temples in Xishuangbanna. In the legends, dragons always appear in storms and clouds, they can fly in clouds or dip into the water, dragons control draught and flood; therefore, they also control the sadness and happiness of the tribes living on farms. Though the Dai folks live by waters and are good at planting rice since there are many snakes and scorpions in the rain forests, which are always threats to them, the Dai folks turn to worship dragons; therefore, they hold dragon boat contests at the beginning of the New Year. Another reason might be that, after the New Year, the Dai folks must be busy with their farm works. In the dragon boat contests, we can see that many boats have carved wooden dragon heads, and some boats have even dragon scales; so, their having dragon boat contests may express their wishes for begging favorable climatic conditions in the coming New Year.
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